If you have agreed to act as performance coach for someone who is working on his or her performance development, support this person any way you can. Outlined below are several ways to be an effective performance coach.

Behavioral Interviewing will help you make the best decisions when it comes to hiring and selection. A key principle is that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. So you want to identify the key behaviors needed in the job and then ask interviewing questions designed to find out how well the candidate was able to demonstrate that behavior in the past.

What are the primary functional skills needed for managers and supervisors to lead their people effectively? Our experience, after working with thousands of managers and supervisors, has shown that there are a core group of skills most managers need if they are going to excel in their role. These all involve key functions managers must demonstrate regularly, while bringing out the best in their people.

Many people believe that leadership is critical in their organization. They instinctively know that well-run organizations are operated by leaders who grow it, sustain it and keep it running optimally. However, there can frequently be a false assumption that leadership training and development is not essential. Let’s look at how costly that assumption can be:

Accountability at work means being held accountable for your actions, not pointing the finger at others when something goes wrong. If something needs to be done, whether it is your responsibility or not, it's important to not wait for direction to take action. Take the initiative and as Nike says "Just Do It!" Leaders need specific Interpersonal Leadership Skills to help create a culture that encourages and engaged accountable workforce.

Based on the internationally best-selling leadership fable, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, the Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team™ facilitates a unique learning experience that measures and develops the top five behaviors of a healthy well-functioning team. Find out how this program can make a lasting impact on your teams at this showcase event in Philadelphia.

One of the biggest challenges many of us face is the difficulty of managing individual priorities when working with other team members. In past articles, the Quantum Learning team has shared effective strategies for both leaders and team members on time management and avoiding a constant state of Crisis. Since we’ve shared tips on how to manage time properly, we thought we would also share a list of indicators or habits that may raise some red flags. Here are our 5 Habits of Highly Unproductive People:

Let’s face it; our business world is a busy, fast-moving and noisy place where information is coming at us at an alarming rate all day long. As business professionals, we are constantly receiving a steady flow of emails, text messages, phone calls and voice mails. This incoming information can take the form of client leads, new product ideas, customer complaints and even in-house needs like staff management. Sometimes it’s enough to make our heads spin and our eyes cross.

Many people believe that only top level executives benefit from leadership training, but in reality, anyone who is going to lead a group or supervise another person can profit from training. Leadership training can help bring out the best in team members, particularly when leadership roles need to change within the team as the project progresses.

As a business professional, you may be under the impression that your business is running like a “well-oiled machine” and supervisors are up to par on everything they need to effectively manage team members. On the flip-side, many people in a leadership position also know that it takes a special skillset to lead others effectively. Most new managers actually feel very ill-equipped in their role as a new supervisor. Aside from these managers and supervisors stepping forward to request further training, there may be other telling factors within your company that indicate that it is time to consider options for advanced fundamental leadership training. Here are a few:

Every industry—and in fact, most every company—has a unique set of needs when it comes to recruiting, developing, and retaining top talent. But across the board, employee development can be bolstered by a common support: mentoring.

We all know innovation is essential for driving business growth and helping to differentiate your organization from key competitors. But it’s not enough to simply talk about innovation, or urge employees to “think outside the box.”

Lots of articles have been written on the subject of credibility in business leadership. You may have read how body language and tone of voice can affect your colleagues’ perceptions of you. Chances are you’ve seen some firsthand examples of managers losing credibility after being dishonest, inappropriate, or lax. The fact is, credibility takes months to build and only a moment to destroy. Each day presents a new opportunity to garner trust and confidence from your teams.

Who should own leadership talent development? The short answer is everyone. But making sure succession planning is an effective, ongoing process—versus a series of disjointed programs—requires strategy and sustained buy-in at all levels. Here’s how different groups can step up to the plate and assume the necessary roles:

ASTD estimates that U.S. companies spent upwards of $164 billion on training and development in 2012. But leadership development only accounted for 13.5 percent of that figure. Here are five fast facts to illustrate why organizations should be doing more:

Last week I commented on an important LinkedIn article from marketing and management executive, John White. White offered some great tips for business leaders—new and veteran. But his post’s last line, a quote from football legend Vince Lombardi, is maybe the most valuable:

If you’ve read any of the recent reports about a skills gap in the American workforce, you probably have core competencies like math, literacy, and problem-solving on your radar. After all, these are the fundamentals that define successful employees, right?

Corporate America has been talking about innovation as a business imperative for almost 20 years now. In that time, we’ve seen new models and gatekeepers emerge. We’ve also seen attitudes and strategies shift. And although 91 percent of executives still say innovation is a strategic priority, some interesting changes are afoot.

What does it cost to develop effective management? To promote the kind of leaders who truly support and regularly acknowledge the people around them? Informally, Scott O’Neill’s organizations (the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils) are doing it for 10 cents a day, every time they encounter “great assists” in the workplace.

This busy holiday season can bring good times with family and friends. It can also be a stressful time, filled with too much to do at home and at work. Below please find some helpful quotes about stress that serve as a good reminder whenever you feel you have too much on your plate.

When you are in a leadership position it is very important to learn how to delegate to others. It isn't always easy or you may not be willing to give up some of your responsibilities. However, it is mandatory in order to achieve your own goals while also developing your staff. Below please find 5 levels of delegation. The level you choose will depend on the willingness and ability of the employee:

A lot is going on in the world today. Not only is the world moving faster for everyone, but the need for stress management is almost universal. People have more on their plates than ever before, many people are worried about job security right now and those left in their jobs have a lot of demands placed on them - but there are things you can do to handle your stress better.

People respect leaders, and the inspiration they generate. Despite the massive shifts in today's business plan, one key success factor remains constant: leadership. Unlocking the leadership potential of your employees will drive your company to leadership in its industry. According to the Association of Talent Development, organizations spend an average of $1,229 per employee on learning. The majority of those dollars are spent on Leadership Training. To maximize the return on your learning investment for leaders, we've identified the 7 most essential skills leaders need to be adept at in today's world, as follows:

We are not all the same and we don’t all approach things the same way. When you learn about behavioral styles, the end result is that you can better lead people and realize what motivates them as unique individuals.

Studies have shown that corporate culture is the most significant element of innovation. Your leaders are the key elements in the creation of that culture. All the money in the world and all the R&D resources in the world won't make as big an impact as your leaders will. But creating a more innovative culture isn't easy to do because by nature, human beings are resistant to change.

"Most of us understand that innovation is enormously important. It's the only insurance against irrelevance. It's the only guarantee of long-term customer loyalty. It's the only strategy for out-performing a dismal economy." -Gary Hamel

The definition of innovation is the introduction of something new: a new idea, method or product. Leaders or managers cannot force people to be innovative. They need to create a culture where team members are encouraged to be more innovative. It's important that new ideas and methods are accepted and not frowned upon. This encourages employees to explore new methods or procedures and helps to build an innovative culture.

"Capital isn't so important in business. Experience isn't so important. You can get both these things. What is important is ideas. If you have ideas, you have the main asset you need, and there isn't any limit to what you an do with your business and your life." - Harvey Firestone

To understand what innovative leadership is you have to first understand what innovation is all about. Innovation is the introduction of something new: a new idea, method or product. There are two types of innovation: exploratory which consists of creating new ideas and then there is exploitative which means changing and improving ideas that you already have.

You may have identified aspect of your performance that you would like to improve. Before you decide what to do about them, you should analyze why the unwanted performance trends exist. The major reasons for any performance problem are:

The most effective leaders know the impact of trust in the workplace. It can impact the quality of relationships, conversations, work projects and productivity. If you want to build trust in your team, the most important factor is to communicate clearly. Below is a list of tips on how to improve the trust in your team:

One of the biggest challenges many managers and supervisors face is knowing the best way to develop an engaged, highly motivated workforce. The secret is for the manager to create an atmosphere that brings out the best in each individual. One management approach that worked excellently with one person may yield a different response from someone else. Here are four steps to follow to help motivate your employees:

Change in the workplace will be constant. It is best to communicate change in the workplace as early as possible. Change tends to create confusion and stress among employees, which in turn affects their performance and productivity. If you communicate early what changes are to occur it helps with the resistance some will have to the change. This will also give employees the time they need to prepare themselves for the changes. Communication is vitally important when change of any sort occurs. As tensions can rise, communication can often break down just when it is needed the most. Some suggestions for communicating during times of change include:

We’re all faced with too much to do these days. But one person’s challenge may not be someone else’s. In order to really maximize the use of your time, you need to have a good understanding about what YOUR unique time management challenges are.

Research shows that we filter out or change the intended message of what we hear in 70% of our communication. That's a lot of the time! If we filter out or change it that often it is REALLY important that we learn how to send and receive messages to make sure we are being heard and are hearing others!

Real interpersonal skills are about connection. This includes actions like smiling, a handshake, an outgoing personality in addition to a good mindset. Working in a team is important in today's workplace and communication skills are essential. The Center for Public Resources did a national survey and discovered 90% of the time individuals are terminated for poor attitudes, inappropriate behavior and poor interpersonal skills rather than deficient job skills (McNamara, 2003).

We have always known that success depends on people communicating effectively. Good communication isn't only about speaking well but also about listening well. Only by listening effectively can you respond appropriately in any situation.

Below you will learn more about the four behavioral styles: Dominance, Influencing, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Learn the goals and fears of each style, what they tend to overuse and how each style can be more effective.

Communication is the basis of all relationships. Whether personal or professional, you just can't do without effective communication. In order to build a good relationship with your clients, employees or peers you must use effective communication. Below please find some quotes about personal communication that I thought you might find interesting:

Communication is the basis of all relationships. Whether personal or professional, you just can't do without effective communication. In order to build a good relationship with your clients, employees or peers you must use effective communication. Below please find some quotes about personal communication that I thought you might find interesting:

The "C" or "Conscientiousness" style is the fourth and last style in the DiSC behavioral style model. The Conscientiousness Style focuses on the "Right" or "Correct" way. They want others to minimize socializing, give details and value accuracy. They tend to be slower paced and task-oriented. They are concerned about doing the job right and will pay a lot of attention to make sure it is. Here are the characteristics of this style:

The "S" or "Steadiness" style is the third style in the DiSC behavioral style model. People with a Steadiness Style focus on cooperating with others. They want others to be relaxed, agreeable, cooperative and appreciative. They are people-oriented but at a slower pace. They don't like to make quick decisions, but value consistency instead. They are patient and loyal and also very good at listening to people and calming others when they get upset. Here are the characteristics of this style:

The "I" or Influencing Style is the second style in the DiSC model for understanding behavioral styles. The Influencing Style focuses their energies on others. They want others to be friendly and to recognize their contributions. These are the "people people." Popularity is important to them. They get their job done by making allies with other people. Here are the charactersitcs of this style:

This will be the first of four blog articles to describe the four styles that make up the DiSC Behavioral style model. The first style is the D style or "Dominance Style". This style focuses on controlling the environment. They want others to be direct, straightforward, and open to their need for results. They work best when they are free from controls and supervision. They overcome opposition to get the job done. Here are the characteristics of this style:

Management Development in Today's Economy

Research indicates there is a growing need for organizations to provide more live virtual resources for training and development. There is also a need to help your managers identify how to best motivate, coach and engage their staff, even in changing turbulent times.

In today's economy, when organizations are struggling to positively differentiate themselves, an organization's managers are the key individuals who inspire the workforce to perform at its highest. To help maangers gain the skills they need, it's important to recognize the reality of today's world in which they they operate. Workloads haven't decreased with advancing technology. They have increased. Most managers are struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing demands they must face.

Understanding more about your own behavioral style tendencies and those of other people can greatly enhance your interpersonal skills. One effective way to learn more about yourself is by measuring your behavioral style strengths with a DISC profile. It is called "the DISC" because of the first letter of each of the 4 styles as follows:

Let's face it: The business climate looks very different today than it did even a few years ago. Organizations are looking for every way possible to give them a competitive edge in today's tough economy. The significant role a manager plays to engage their staff and increase team performance has never been more critical. Research has consistently shown that the relationship each employee has with their immediate manager or supervisor is the most important ingredient for helping them feel loyal to the organization and determined to give their best every day.

Do you feel frustrated because your meetings are a waste of time? Does it ever feel that nothing gets accomplished and you are spinning your wheels? There are 5 symptoms of bad meetings that can really impact your team. They are:

Communication is the cornerstone of our lives. It is the cause of great joy when we feel we are really connecting and understanding someone. It can also be the source of great frustration or pain when we are not. Below please find several quotes about communication skills that speak to this:

You've spent countless hours in meetings. When they are run well you know you have accomplished something meaningful. When they are not run well, they are a huge waste of time. Below please find a few quick tips that can help you make your next meeting a better one.

We're all feeling the pinch these days: more to do with less time to do it in, mounting pressures at home and at work, and a struggling economy. A great deal of research has been done to indicate that stress at home causes productivity loss in the marketplace. It also reveals, however, that stress on the job causes more stress at home. One area of life impacts the other.

It has never been more important to build an engaged workforce who is passionate about helping your organization succeed in today's changing and challenging business climate. But there may be hidden symptoms of disengagement that can cause employees to "turnoff", just when you need them the most. The individual's immediate supervisor or manager is usually in the best position to create some of these unfortunate circumstances. Luckily, they are also in the best position to turn it around. Jim Haudan, in his book entitled "The Art of Engagement", lists 6 issues that employees state are preventing them from truly engaging and committing to their organizations, as follows:

Even if you are not a professional "sales person", you are always selling your ideas and suggestions to team members and other colleagues. What many people may not realize, however, is that other people are silently asking themselves 3 questions about you. This is especially true if they don't know you very well.

One of the biggest challenges we hear from participants in our Time Management Classes is the difficulty of managing individual priorities when working with other team members. Below please find 5 deadly traps that can really zap how effectively team members are able to get their work done. You may want to discuss these with team members during your next meeting. This discussion just might help you each get more done each day! The five deadly traps impacting team time are:

We each think, act and are motivated in unique ways. One approach that worked excellently with one person may yield a different response from someone else. The DISC model for understanding behavioral styles is a thoroughly researched system for understanding human behavior. It is called DISC because of the first letter of each of the four styles:

A lot has been said about the importance of interpersonal skills. But just what are they, and which ones are most important? Daniel Goleman states that "Emotional Intelligence" is even more of a contributor to business success than IQ. In his groundbreaking book Working with Emotional Intelligence, he says "On average, close to 90 percent of success in leadership was attributable to emotional intelligence". Goleman defines Emotional Intelligence as having these four competencies:

My husband's cousin, Pamela, recently sent us a quote about the passing of time that really touched me. Our beloved "Aunt Theresa" just recently passed away. We always knew her to be the wonderfully wise matriarch of the family. Her words of wisdom to always do your best have left a legacy that lives on in each of us.

Do you ever feel like you are spinning your wheels each day? Have you ever wondered if how you spend your time is similar to how other people spend theirs? The American Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that after work and sleep, there's really not much time left for anything else by the average working American. This is how the average working person spends their time on a daily basis:

Learning how to deal with interruptions at work can be quite a challenge. The average person spends over 2 hours of each day just dealing with interruptions. In fact, the statistics showing how frequently interruptions at work occur is staggering. So how can you better keep them under control? Here are some helpful tips to remember:

You've certainly felt the pain of distractions and interruptions at work. Have you been putting all your focus into completing a certain task, been interrupted, and then afterwards can't remember where you were? Or worse yet, you don't ever go back to your original place?

Have you ever wondered what really makes teams of people "gel"? Why do some just click and others don't? There are actually several interpersonal skills that team members may not even know about that can make a world of difference. The key is to understand our different work styles.

You've heard it said that "Successful People Do the Things Unsuccessful People Don't Want to Do." There's a great deal of truth in that statement and it demonstrates the value of accomplishing goals by overcoming procrastination. It's important to first understandwhy you are procrastinating and then take steps to overcome those tendencies. There are 5 important steps to take, as follows:

It seems the world is moving faster and faster these days. You constantly have information streaming to you from people in the office, meetings, email, voice messages, texts. You're trying to keep on top of it all and it can sometimes feel practically impossible.

Teams grow and develop at different rates and times. However, they do all follow fairly predictable stages of maturity in their effort to create team synergy. Each stage is characterized by unique strengths and weaknesses. As you review these, ask yourself which stage you think your team is in:

We all want to keep up. With today's current unemployment rate, you especially want to hold onto your job. However, when so many companies are downsizing, those employees who remain are left to pick up the slack of the ones that are gone. This adds additional stress because the workload consistently gets heavier. All of this can take a very real toll on your self-esteem. You may not have recognized it. You may not have spoken about it. But it can be very real nonetheless. See if you identify with any of the symptoms below:

Let’s face it. Information is coming at us faster than ever before. We are constantly receiving a steady flow of emails, text messages, phone calls and voice mails. The downside of communication technology is that it is making everything URGENT. It takes real discipline to determine the difference between what is really important from what is just urgent. But it’s this difference that gives you the ability to be really productive, as opposed to just really busy.

Research indicates there is a growing need for organizations to provide more virtual resources for training and development. There is also a need to help your managers identify how to best motivate, coach and engage their staff, even in changing turbulent times.

This article describes how investments in many types of training programs are usually wasted, and how to implement the best available options for enhancing learner retention and increasing your organization's ROI.

Has your budget been cut but you still need to provide best-in-class learning solutions? Live virtual training is growing in use and can actually enhance learner retention....if you use proven techniques adapted for the virtual classroom. We are early adopters of live virtual learning and have found what works and what doesn't. Join use for this FREEwebinar in which we will address:

As organizations are looking for ways to do more with less in today's economy, the pressure is greater than ever to provide cost-effective, flexible resources that meet the needs of today's learner. At the same time, it's never been more important to develop a skilled workforce capable of competing in today's market.

Earlier this week, I wrote a blog article entitled “Know your Style to Get Ahead. It discussed the 4 different behavioral styles. In case you missed it, you can read that article here. I’d like to build on that article now and share some tips for applying behavioral style knowledge to advance your career.

Do you ever wonder what makes some people seem to almost magically advance their careers forward while others, with similar backgrounds, go unnoticed? What makes them so special? How can you discover what gives them the hidden edge?

We are all inundated with email these days. Because we get so much of it, we make very quick decisions about what to open and what to delete. We don't want to receive unimportant or unnecessary emails, and improper email etiquette bogs down an organization and shines a poor light on the sender.

There are many benefits to be gained from participating in an online elearning course. We believe that in order to have a good online course it needs to be engaging and interactive. Some of the key benefits include:

In today's tough economy, with more and more people struggling to either find a job, hang on to the one they have, or make their businesses prosper, it's important to recognize everything we can do to help us be more productive. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote an intriguing book called Learned Optimism. In his book, he offers many simple techniques to break an “I-give-up” habit and develop a more constructive explanatory style during challenging times. This can help you develop a more positive inner dialogue that has been found to break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and just plain make you happier.

Has your budget been cut but you still need to provide best-in-class learning solutions? Live virtual training is growing in use and can actually enhance learner retention....if you use proven techniques adapted for the virtual classroom. We are early adopters of live virtual learning and have found what works and what doesn't. We learned the hard way 10 years ago when we first started delivering live virtual classes. Now you can benefit from our 10 years of experience...we are happy to share.

When delivered effectively, live virtual training can be even more engaging than the traditional face-to-face classroom. You can keep all the participants actively involved. You can keep everyone on their toes. You can make it entertaining, inspiring and action-filled. But you do need to know the secrets to success that will help you do that.

This is a subject that will be of interest to both seasoned sales vets and rookies, as well as listeners in general. We all face the same daily dilemma: too much to do and not enough time to do it. Time management concerns, how we resolve that dilemma. Time, not activities, is the limiting factor.

People can initially be concerned that live virtual training cannot be as interactive as the traditional face-to-face approach, but this isn't necessarily true. The key is to design your program well by constantly keeping it moving and keeping participants engaged. Some ways to do this include:

When it comes to maintaining loyal customers, one simple fact never changes: It's all about the relationship you have with them. They already know all about your company's products and services - and they've already become your customer. But in today's day and age, competition for that same customer is increasing. You've got to find a way to keep them for life. Once that relationship is developed, you want to keep it strong. Identify what your client needs and go the extra mile to provide it. One way to do that is to recognize their behavioral style.

About Behavioral StylesYou've probably seen from your own experience how one sales and service approach worked great with one person, yet you got a very different reaction from someone else. Behavioral styles impact:

Has your budget been cut but you
still need to provide best-in-class learning solutions? Live virtual training is growing in use and can actually enhance learner retention....
if you use proven techniques adapted for the virtual classroom. We are early adopters of live virtual learning and have found what works and what doesn't. Join us for this
FREE recorded webinar in which we will address:

How you can make your virtual training stick for long-term learning impact

Yes, technology has changed things. Now almost everyone has some kind of email account(s), and it's getting harder and harder to "unplug". Just how have emails and text messaging impacted us? I thought you'd be interested in some startling statistics:

When it comes to maintaining loyal customers, one simple fact never changes: It's all about the relationship you have with them. They already know all about your company's products and services - and they've already become your customer. But in today's day and age, competition for that same customer is increasing. You've got to find a way to keep them for life. Once that relationship is developed, you want to keep it strong. Identify what your client needs and go the extra mile to provide it. One way to do that is to recognize their behavioral style.

About Behavioral StylesYou've probably seen from your own experience how one sales and service approach worked great with one person, yet you got a very different reaction from someone else. Behavioral styles impact:

In today's tough economy, with more and more people struggling to either find a job, hang on to the one they have, or make their businesses prosper, it's important to recognize everything we can do to help us be more productive. Martin Seligman, Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote an intriguing book called Learned Optimism. In his book, he offers many simple techniques to break an "I-give-up" habit and develop a more constructive explanatory style during challenging times. This can help you develop a more positive inner dialogue that has been found to break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and just plain make you happier.

Let’s face it: Our current economy has put more pressure than ever on our managers. Not only do they need to do more with less, they have to keep everyone motivated and engaged at the same time. Managers can feel caught in the middle between what the organization needs, and what their employees need. If you are a manager, struggling with these challenges, your role is critical now. The following 5 key skills, when mastered effectively, can help you succeed even in today’s tough economy.

Identify and Align with Key Organizational Priorities. It’s important to understand how the current economy has impacted your organization. What’s most important for your company to succeed right now? Make sure you know. Then identify how this should impact your priorities as a manager. Communicate these priorities to your staff, and communicate them consistently. Make sure everyone is aligned and understands how their role helps the organization navigate through today’s choppy waters.

Manage Your Time to Focus on These Priorities. It’s hard to disconnect from all our communication devices: text messages, voice mail, constant emails, interruptions, and all sorts of staff crises. However, the challenge every manager faces is the need to prioritize what is REALLY important from what is just urgent. When the going gets tough, it is more important than ever to make sure you are accomplishing your most important priorities. So remind yourself often what your critical objectives are. Don’t let all the pressing demands of the day keep you busy, instead of effective.

Coach Your Staff to Succeed. Your key role as a manager is helping your staff to succeed. That means that you have got to help them stay focused on accomplishing their key priorities as well. You need to be so clearly tuned in to them that you know when they are slipping. Then you will need to coach them in the most effective way possible when they get off track. Help them to take ownership when they need to improve, and find the best strategies for success.

Create a Motivational Environment. Your staff can also be facing additional pressure and work demands right now. You need to do everything in your power to keep them engaged. Don’t ever underestimate the power of gratitude and appreciation. Let your staff know what you value about each individual. Be sincere and communicate it often. You’ll be amazed at how powerful the strategy of expressed praise can be.

Become an Effective Change Agent. The only constant we have is change. To survive in today’s economy you need to embrace change and help your staff do the same. Communicate openly when a change is about to occur and explain the benefits to the organization and/or your employees. Help everyone understand how their actions can benefit the company by implementing the change. Although difficult at first, they’ll follow your lead and the new change will be accepted.

You can lead your staff through today’s economic challenges to be even stronger when the economy finally improves. You, too, will become stronger in the process as a result. Remember that your staff will watch how YOU step up to the challenge. They will model your attitudes, actions and beliefs. So use any challenge you experience as an opportunity to model what you want to see in others. When you do, you will have mastered key elements of effective leadership, even in a tough economy.

To learn how you can gain these critical skills for yourself and/or your organization, check out our free recorded webinar entitled “
How Live Virtual Management Training Can Meet the Needs of Today’s Managers”. This one hour recorded webinar will expand on this article further, and show you how you can gain these skills, even on a minimized budget.

One of the most difficult conversations most managers ever have is when they need to meet with an employee to discuss a performance problem. Most managers either put this discussion off altogether (just hoping against hope it will go away), or so clearly mismanage the discussion that the employee leaves feeling demoralized and unmotivated. However, the following three strategies can help you the next time you find yourself needing to coach an employee to improve.

Focus on specific performance issues, not personality. You may just know that the performance issue is obvious to the employee, but that is frequently not the case. It can be very tempting to use general language like “not a team player”, or “attitude problem”, but the other party won’t understand what you mean. They will probably get defensive and then you’ve immediately lost any hope of having a positive outcome. So make sure you are clear and specific when describing the problem. Instead of complaining that they weren’t a team player, say instead “When you missed the deadline by 2 days, it caused the whole team to be behind on this project”. As a result, you will be focusing on the performance issue in a clear way and not making what can be perceived as a personality attack.

Encourage the employee to take ownership for solving the problem. One of the best ways to do this is to ask him or her what suggestions they have for improving. This puts the responsibility on their back, and not on yours. By engaging them in the solution, you are encouraging ownership of not just the problem but also the solution. This gives them the opportunity to feel more empowered and willing to make a change. Your goal is not to assign blame or make someone feel guilty; your goal is to improve the problem in the future.

Set a follow-up date. It can be tempting a heave a sigh of relief when you get to the end of the performance discussion and pat yourself on the back for accomplishing the first 2 strategies. But if you end the conversation there, even though it went well, it won’t be successful. There’s a strong likelihood that the employee may leave with all the best intentions, but can loose focus when meeting the rest of their daily demands. To keep them on track, you will want to make sure you set a specific follow-up date and time to measure improvement. Don’t say “Let’s review this sometime next month” or you can both get distracted. Instead schedule a specific date and time to monitor progress. This will ensure the employee understands how important this issue is to you, and the results achieved will be significantly higher.

Have you ever wished you had a crystal ball that would tell you BEFORE you hired a candidate if they were actually going to be a good fit? Have you ever scratched your head AFTER you made a bad hiring decision, and wished you never even hired an employee in the first place?

Making sure you have the right person, in the right position, at the right time, takes much more than a crystal ball. It takes knowledge of effective interviewing skills, and the ability to implement them.

One of the most effective approaches for interviewing is called Behavioral Interviewing. It works off the premise that future behavior is best predicted by past behavior. To be sure that a candidate has the capabilities needed to perform the job, you need some degree of proof that they have demonstrated these capabilities in the past. A behavioral interview is a series of open-ended questions that help you obtain a good picture of a person’s capabilities in previous positions.

Preparation before the interview is essential. To prepare for a behavioral interview, first identify the key competencies needed in the position. Many people tend to focus primarily on the technical skills needed. However, performance skills are also incredibly important competencies for success. Examples of performance skills include problem solving, communication, analytical thinking, results-orientation, etc.

Once you have gathered information regarding all the skills required for the position, it is important to prepare a list of behavioral-based interview questions designed to critique the candidates past performance around those competencies. Most behavior based interview questions ask the candidate to provide detailed information regarding:

• A past situation where they demonstrated those skills• The behavior that the candidate performed• The outcome of that behavior

An example of a behavior-based question designed to assess the competency of effective time management would be: “Tell me about a time when you were faced with a number of priorities to accomplish in a relatively short time frame.”

Then the interviewer would probe deeper by asking

• “What kinds of things did you consider?” • “How did you respond to the pressure?” • “What was the result?”

The interviewer can gain great insight into the candidate’s capabilities as the candidate is asked to provide a specific, detailed picture of his or her performance in a past situation.

As a result, a more objective assessment of the candidate’s strengths and development needs can be achieved. Although it may not be a crystal ball, it provides a much higher likelihood of making more informed hiring decisions.

In tough economic times, you need a proven strategy to help your managers succeed. They need to be able to motivate, coach and enable employees to deal with constant change. They need to eliminate the fear that uncertainty brings. And you need to help them gain those skills, even on a minimized budget.

If your organization is aware of the tremendous cost associated with turnover, and you realize you are losing some of your best people, it is important to assess the symptoms and address methods for enhancing employee retention.

This is a FREE online instructor-led session that will answer the question: How do we develop managers who can coach employees to get results? And how can we create a culture where employees are engaged and committed to excellence?

My name is Susan Cullen. I am the President of Quantum Learning Solutions, Inc. and have been in the training industry for the past 18 years. Our focus has been to provide organizations with the most critical communication skills managers can use to significantly increase employee productivity and performance. Over the years, I have found that the three basic skills every manager needs to motivate and develop their staff are:

A major problem for employers today is attracting the best talent, and then retaining key employees. Research shows that the key ingredient for retention lies within the manager’s ability to understand what employees really want.

If you gather 100 experienced leaders together to share with you their most important secrets for success, you probably wouldn't hear a lot of academic theory or jargon. Instead, this is a good idea of what you’d hear:

When it comes to effective selling, one simple fact never changes: Selling is a relationship business. You already know all about your company’s products and services – and you’ve learned the fundamental aspects of the sales cycle.

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Quantum Learning Solutions provides robust, dynamic learning programs that ignite the passion and productivity of your people. Our leadership and team development programs are among the highest rated in the industry.